Ready for a Close-Up

A few weeks ago, we got a new camera. For quite some time, I'd been continually frustrated by my inability to take non-blurry close-ups in the garden, as evidenced by this shot from last summer.


Some of that it definitely my fault: I've got extremely limited skills in the photography department, plus my hands tend to shake just enough to affect the outcome (although this never seems problematic or even noticable unless I'm holding a camera). My own shortcomings aside, our previous camera was about four years old, being a wedding gift M and I gave to each other. It worked fine, but as happens with most "consumer electonics," camera technology has really improved in those few years.

After reading an NYT article about the newer optical stabilizing features, I did a little Consumer Reports research and picked out a camera that I thought would do the trick. The bad news: I didn't really think about how inconvenient a camera that uses standard batteries (even when you take rechargeables into consideration) would be. The good news: National Camera Exchange is awesome and let me swap out the initial purchase for a slightly better model that includes a lithium-ion rechargeable battery: the wonderful Olympus Stylus 1010.

The result? Photos I never could have taken before, including those below. Click on any of them to see just how crisp the detail is.

Oh, and in addition to providing fantastic customer service, National Camera Exchange includes a voucher for a free photography class with every camera purchase. Between the class, which I'll take sometime this summer, and the new camera, I'm really tickled about what's in store for photgraphing the garden this year.